Welcome Guest. Sign in or Signup

3 Answers

Rate of Turn?

Asked by: 14938 views Aerodynamics

can some one explain to me exactly what is meant by rate of turn??

Ace Any FAA Written Test!
Actual FAA Questions / Free Lifetime Updates
The best explanations in the business
Fast, efficient study.
Pass Your Checkride With Confidence!
FAA Practical Test prep that reflects actual checkrides.
Any checkride: Airplane, Helicopter, Glider, etc.
Written and maintained by actual pilot examiners and master CFIs.
The World's Most Trusted eLogbook
Be Organized, Current, Professional, and Safe.
Highly customizable - for student pilots through pros.
Free Transition Service for users of other eLogs.
Our sincere thanks to pilots such as yourself who support AskACFI while helping themselves by using the awesome PC, Mac, iPhone/iPad, and Android aviation apps of our sponsors.

3 Answers



  1. Brian on Aug 18, 2011

    The number of degrees your heading changes in a period of time, usually one second or one minute. A standard rate turn, typically spoken of in terms of instrument flight, is performed at 180 degrees of heading change in a one minute period. This gives a complete 360 turn in two minutes.
     
    Rate will always refer to a change of something (turn in this case) in relation to a period of time. 

    +4 Votes Thumb up 5 Votes Thumb down 1 Votes



  2. Nathan Parker on Aug 18, 2011

    The number of degrees the flight path changes per second.

    +2 Votes Thumb up 3 Votes Thumb down 1 Votes



  3. John D. Collins on Aug 18, 2011

    Rate of turn is usually defined as the number of degrees per second or other unit of time that an aircraft is turning.  A standard rate of turn is 3 degrees per second, so a full course reversal of 180 degrees would take one minute at the standard rate.  To complete a full circle would take two minutes.  The turn coordinator or rate of turn indicator has markings on them to indicate the aircraft is turning at the standard rate. Rate of turn is a function of speed and bank angle.  Standard rate varies between 10 and 25 degrees for most of the piston airplanes we fly. An approximate rule of thumb to determine the angle of bank required for a standard rate of turn is to subtract 50 from the true airspeed and divide the result by 5, so at 100 Kts the approximate angle of bank to achieve (100-50)/5 = 10 degrees.

    +7 Votes Thumb up 10 Votes Thumb down 3 Votes


The following terms have been auto-detected the question above and any answers or discussion provided. Click on a term to see its definition from the Dauntless Aviation JargonBuster Glossary.

Answer Question

Our sincere thanks to all who contribute constructively to this forum in answering flight training questions. If you are a flight instructor or represent a flight school / FBO offering flight instruction, you are welcome to include links to your site and related contact information as it pertains to offering local flight instruction in a specific geographic area. Additionally, direct links to FAA and related official government sources of information are welcome. However we thank you for your understanding that links to other sites or text that may be construed as explicit or implicit advertising of other business, sites, or goods/services are not permitted even if such links nominally are relevant to the question asked.